• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis prays during his weekly general audience in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican May 12, 2021. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope hospitalized for respiratory infection, Vatican says

March 29, 2023
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News

After having difficulty breathing, Pope Francis went to Rome’s Gemelli hospital March 29 where he was diagnosed with a respiratory infection that will be treated in the hospital for several days, the Vatican press office said.

In the past few days, the statement said, “Pope Francis complained of some respiratory difficulties and this afternoon he went to Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic for some medical tests.

The outcome of these showed a respiratory infection — a COVID-19 infection was excluded — that will require several days of appropriate medical treatment in the hospital.”

Pope Francis greets a group of children holding the Ukrainian flag after his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican March 29, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

“Pope Francis is touched by the many messages he’s received and expresses his gratitude for the closeness and prayer,” the press office said.

About six hours earlier the press office had said the pope was at the hospital for “previously planned tests.”

Before acknowledging the pope would be hospitalized for a few days, a Vatican official said audiences with the pope scheduled for March 30 and 31 had been canceled “to make room in his agenda for the tests to continue” if needed.

Several Italian media outlets and the Rome correspondent for the Argentine newspaper La Nacion reported, however, that Pope Francis was taken to Gemelli by ambulance.

La Nacion said that “a source close” to the pope told the newspaper that after his weekly general audience that morning, the pope began to feel chest pain and was advised to go to the hospital immediately.

The Gemelli hospital, part of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, keeps a suite of rooms reserved for the popes on its 10th floor.

In a late January interview with the Associated Press, Pope Francis had said that the diverticulitis, or bulges in his intestinal wall, had “returned,” but he insisted he was in good health for his age, which is 86.

Pope Francis had spent 10 days in Gemelli hospital in July 2021 after undergoing a three-hour surgery that included a left hemicolectomy, which is the removal of the descending part of the colon, a surgery that can be recommended to treat diverticulitis.

Three days after surgery, the Vatican said, “the final histological examination has confirmed a severe diverticular stenosis with signs of sclerosing diverticulitis,” a hardening of the tissue. The statement seemed to indicate that the biopsy showed no cancerous cells, although it did not say so explicitly, and rumors began.

Interviewed by the Reuters news agency in July 2022, the pope was asked about rumors that doctors had found cancer.

According to Reuters, Pope Francis laughed and said: “They didn’t tell me about it. They didn’t tell me.”

But, really, he said, “they explained everything to me well — full stop.”

The cancer rumor, he said, “is court gossip. The court spirit is still there in the Vatican. And if you think about it, the Vatican is the last European court of an absolute monarchy.”

In 1957, at the age of 20, Pope Francis was hospitalized after being misdiagnosed with the flu. In the book, “Let us Dream,” written with Austen Ivereigh, the pope said, “Straightaway they took a liter and a half of water out of the lung, and I remained there fighting for my life. The following November they operated to take out the upper right lobe of one of the lungs.”

While the pope can sometimes be heard breathing heavily, he has insisted the surgery had no lasting impact on his health.

Read More Vatican News

Pope: Resist the ‘temptation’ of embracing weapons

Jesus invites Christians to overcome despair, pope says

A month after his election, most U.S. Catholics view Pope Leo XIV favorably

A cry for unity

Pope asks Italian bishops to proclaim the Gospel, teach peace

Pope Leo XIV will escape Rome’s heat in July by going to papal villa

Copyright © 2023 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Cindy Wooden

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Pope Leo to return to practice of ‘imposing’ pallium on new archbishops

  • Prodigal son to priest

  • Archbishop Lori announces appointments, including pastor and associate pastor assignments

  • Pope’s brother says even as a baby, future pontiff had a spiritual ‘air’ about him

  • Diversity is cause for strength, not division, pope tells Rome clergy

| Latest Local News |

Knights of Columbus announces June 19 novena for intention of Pope Leo

For Deacon Shiadrik Mokum, the priesthood is all about community

Prodigal son to priest

Radio Interview: Books and Authors: Inspiring Trailblazers

Future priest from Congo has a heart of service

| Latest World News |

Former Catholic high school counselor sentenced for abusing teen student

Supreme Court upholds Tennessee’s gender transition ban for minors

Cuban bishops urge leaders to address nation’s economic crisis

National Eucharistic Revival

For 3-year National Eucharistic Revival, the end is the beginning

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Experts provide tools for ministries to support immigrants affected by incarceration

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Former Catholic high school counselor sentenced for abusing teen student
  • Supreme Court upholds Tennessee’s gender transition ban for minors
  • Cuban bishops urge leaders to address nation’s economic crisis
  • For 3-year National Eucharistic Revival, the end is the beginning
  • Experts provide tools for ministries to support immigrants affected by incarceration
  • British Parliament ‘effectively decriminalizes’ abortion up to birth
  • Expert: Religious show courage helping others, fear standing up for self
  • Knights of Columbus announces June 19 novena for intention of Pope Leo
  • Pope: Resist the ‘temptation’ of embracing weapons

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED